Can RGCs change their encoding properties as a function of location?

Stimulus characteristics of the mouse’s visual field differ above and below the skyline. Do RGCs change their functional properties with their retinal location to allow better representation of the different stimulus characteristics?

Transient-Off-alpha-RGCs gradually change their response properties along the dorsal-ventral axis

Left: (Top) Positions of 22 transient-Off-αRGCs recorded from across the retina. Response durations to a 400 µm spot are colored coded. Cardinal axes are marked in the center. D: dorsal, V: ventral, T: temporal, N: nasal.

(Bottom) Plot of response duration as a function of position along the ventral-dorsal axis.

Right: PSTHs of 3 representative transient-Off-αRGCs located in dorsal (top), center (middle) and ventral (bottom) retina.

Adopted from Warwick et al., Current Biology 2018

Our findings challenge the current belief that RGCs of the same type exhibit the same light responses regardless of retinal location, and suggest that networks underlying RGC responses may change with location to enable optimized sampling of the visual image. We use two-photon targeted voltage-clamp recordings, pharmacology, and genetic manipulations to uncover the neuronal networks that mediate this gradual change.